Wound dressing having a movable flap for alternately viewing and covering a wound

ABSTRACT

An external wound dressing having a cover which is reversibly movable to an open position exposing the wound from a closed position covering the wound thereby enabling selective viewing of the wound without removing the wound dressing from the individual.

This is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 08/472,119, filed Jun.7, 1995, now abandoned, which is a divisional of application Ser. No.08/289,845, filed: Aug. 12, 1994 now abandoned, which is a continuationof application Ser. No. 08/056,733, filed: May 4, 1993, now abandoned.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to a wound dressing andparticularly to a wound dressing which enables the wound to be viewed bya person such as patient, doctor, mother, child, etc. without removingthe wound dressing. A cover means, particularly in the form of a flap,is provided which is movable to an open position to allow viewing of thewound from a closed position whereby viewing of the wound is prevented.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wound dressings, including Band-Aid® brand wound dressings, generallyinclude an opaque backing layer having an adhesive applied to one sidefor adhering to the skin. A protective layer, typically made of arelease paper is applied to the adhesive side of the backing layer andis releasable therefrom when the wound dressing is applied to the skin.The area immediately covering the wound often has a gauze pad which maybe impregnated with an antibacterial agent or the like.

Wound dressings as described above and as disclosed, for example, in N.R. Dibelius, U.S. Pat. No. 3,367,329, must be removed in order for theindividual and/or the physician to view the wound. Once the wounddressing is removed it may become contaminated or difficult to put backon the wound. Therefore, removal of the wound dressing oftennecessitates replacing the old wound dressing with a new one, which canbe stressful to the individual.

Excessive use of wound dressings is also apparent when young childrenobtain superficial wounds such as minor cuts, abrasions and the like.Children are naturally curious and they often prematurely remove a wounddressing to view their wound and to show it to their friends. Each timea wound dressing is removed, it is often difficult to reapply the samewound dressing because the adhesive layer loses its tackiness and thelike. Accordingly, the number of wound dressings used during the healingof minor cuts and abrasions, particularly with children, is oftengreater than what might otherwise be expected.

A wound dressing was developed which enables the wound to be viewedwithout removing the wound dressing. In particular, O. L. Johns, U.S.Pat. No. 4,513,739, discloses an external wound dressing which may havea backing material made entirely out of a transparent polyurethane film.When the wound dressing is applied to the skin, the wound is alwaysvisible. While such a wound dressing enables the individual to view thewound without removing the dressing, permanent visibility has itsdisadvantages.

In particular, many individuals do not want to see their wound. In somecases, the wound is unpleasant to look at. Indeed, some individuals findthe viewing of particularly onerous wounds very stressful and unpleasantand, therefore, would prefer wound dressings which completely hide thewound from view. As a result, the individual and/or physician mustdecide between opaque wound dressings which do not allow the wound to beviewed in the absence of removing the wound dressing, and transparentwound dressings in which the wound is permanently open to view. Quiteobviously, each such wound dressing has its disadvantages.

It would be a significant advance in the wound dressing industry toprovide a wound dressing in which (a) the wound could be viewed by theindividual and/or physician without removing the wound dressing and (b)the wound could be covered when the viewing of the wound is not desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is generally directed to a wound dressing whichpermits selective viewing of a wound without having to remove the wounddressing from the skin. When viewing of the wound is completed, thewound may be covered by the individual or physician if desired and thenviewed again at a later time without reapplying an entirely new wounddressing.

More particularly, one embodiment of the present invention is directedto an external wound dressing comprising:

(a) a first layer comprising a backing sheet material having a firstportion for positioning over the wound and a second portion, said firstportion being made of a material which enables the wound to be seenthrough the first layer;

(b) an adhesive on a first face of at least the second portion of thefirst layer of backing sheet material;

(c) a second layer comprising a protective sheet material covering thefirst layer and being in releasable contact with the adhesive, saidsecond layer being removable from the adhesive to enable the wounddressing to be applied to the wound; and

(d) cover means covering the first portion of the first layer and beingreversibly movable from a closed position covering the wound to an openposition so that the wound can be viewed by the user.

In an alternative embodiment, the first portion comprises an opening inthe backing sheet material through which the wound may be seen when thecover means is moved to the open position.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings in which like reference characters indicate likeparts are illustrative of embodiments of the invention and are notintended to limit the invention as encompassed by the claims formingpart of the application.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a wound dressing inaccordance with the present invention with a flap in the open positionfor viewing the wound;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1rotated 180°;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is another embodiment of the present invention similar to FIG. 1in which the upper surfaces of the wound dressing are imprinted withindicia;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of the wound dressingof the present invention which is adapted for covering large surgicalwounds; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of still another embodiment of theinvention in which the backing layer which adheres to the skin has acut-out portion exposing the wound.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Referring to FIGS. 1-3, there is shown a first embodiment of the wounddressing of the present invention particularly adapted for coveringsuperficial wounds and abrasions such as those typically covered byBand-Aid® brand wound dressings. The wound dressing 2 includes a layerof backing sheet material 4 having an adhesive 6 on the bottom surfacethereof and a release paper 8 (see FIG. 3) releasably attached to theadhesive 6.

The backing sheet material 4 has a first portion 10 which is intended tobe positioned directly over the wound identified by the letter "W". Inaccordance with one aspect of the present invention, the first portion10 of the backing sheet material 4 enables a person to view the woundwithout removing the wound dressing 2.

The first portion 10 of the backing sheet material 4 may be transparentor may comprise a cut-out portion or opening as discussed hereinafter inconnection with FIG. 6. The transparent first portion 10 as shown inFIGS. 1-3 may be made of such known materials as a trans parentpolyurethane film of about 0.5 to 2 mils (13 to 51 microns) which may ormay not be permeable to gases and/or liquids as identified in Johns,U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,739, and Hodgson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,645,835,incorporated herein by reference. Permeability may be imparted to thepolyurethane film by providing a plurality of spaced apart perforationsthrough the film as shown by numeral 11. Alternatively, the firstportion 10 may be made of a mesh type material which enables at leastpartial viewing of the wound.

The backing sheet material 4 has a second portion 12 extending outwardlyon both ends 14a, 14b of the first portion 10. The second portion 12 maybe made of the same material as the first portion or may be made of moretraditional opaque materials which are two-way stretchable, non-toxic,and porous. Examples of such materials ar e Nylon, Dacron, polyethylene,cotton and linen, such as disclosed in N. R. Dibelius, U.S. Pat. No.3,367,329, incorporated herein by reference.

The backing sheet material 4 is attached to the skin through an adhesivelayer 6. The adhesives which may be used may be any conventionaladhesive which is non-toxic and readily adheres to the skin. One suchexample is disclosed in S. M. Cole, U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,224,incorporated herein by reference, which discloses a pressure-sensitiveadhesive having a discontinuous gaseous phase.

The adhesive layer 6 is covered with a release paper 8 which willprotect the adhesive during storage of the wound dressing and be easilyreleased therefrom when the wound dressing is to be placed over thewound. The release paper 8 may be any sheet material having theseproperties such as paper, polyethylene and polypropylene. A suitablerelease material, for example, is a 40 to 75 pound basis weight papercoated on one or both sides with a suitable finish such as clay and witha release agent such as silicone. The thickness of the release layer 8will normally be about 2 to 6 mils (51 to 152 microns). A pull tab 16may be attached to the release layer 8 as shown best in FIG. 3. Othertypes and arrangements of release paper 8 may be found in O. L. John,U.S. Pat. No. 4,513,739.

In accordance with the present invention, the first portion 10 of thebacking sheet material 4 is covered with a flap 18 which is movable froman open position as shown in FIGS. 1-3 wherein the first portion 10 ofthe backing sheet material 4 is exposed, to a closed position (notshown) covering the first portion 10 of the backing sheet material 4.

The flap 18 is comprised of a backing material 20 which may be the samematerial used for the second portion 12 of the backing sheet material 4.As shown in FIG. 2, the flap 18 may optionally include perforations 13to impart permeability as described above for the transparent film shownin FIG. 1. The flap 18 may optionally include a layer of gauze 22 (seeFIG. 3) which adheres to the backing material 20 by a conventionaladhesive. Adhesives exemplified for use with the underside of thebacking sheet material 4, previously described, may be used for thispurpose.

The flap 18 has a first end 24 either permanently or removably attachedto the backing sheet material 4 at the end 14b of the first portion 10.Attachment may be by use of an adhesive, by hot pressing, stitching orother suitable means. The opposed end 26 has a surface 28 which contactsa corresponding surface 30 of the backing material 4 located at the end14a of the first portion 10 when the flap 18 is moved to the closedposition. Either of the surfaces 28 and 30 may be provided with asuitable adhesive or other means of releasable attachment such as a loopand hook fabric sold under the trademark VELCRO.

If the flap 18 is attached permanently to the end 14b of the backingsheet material 4, the flap 18 can be pivoted about the end 14b to exposeor cover the wound. Flap 18 may include a tab at its free end forreversibly moving the flap from the open to the closed position.Alternatively, if the flap 18 is only temporarily attached at the ends14a and 14b, the flap may be lifted upwards from the backing sheetmaterial 4 to expose the wound and then again placed into contact withthe backing sheet material 4 to cover the wound. In this embodiment ofthe invention, the same flap 18 may be placed over the wound or anentirely new flap may be placed over the wound.

In operation, the wound dressing 2 of the present invention is placedupon the wound "W" in the same manner as other typical wound dressings.Specifically, the release paper 8 is removed from the adhesive 6 bypulling on the respective pull tabs 16. The wound dressing 2 is thenpressed against the skin so that the second portion 12 of the backingmaterial adheres to the individual while the first portion 10 covers thewound.

In order to view the wound without removing the wound dressing, the flap18 is pulled upwardly so that the respective surfaces 28 and 30disengage from each other and the wound beneath the flap 18 is exposedif the flap 18 is permanently attached to the end 14b. Alternatively, ifthe flap 18 is temporarily attached at both ends 14a and 14b, such as bya release type adhesive, the flap 18 may be entirely removed from thebacking sheet material 4. When viewing of the wound is no longerdesired, the flap 18 is moved downwardly by the user until the surfaces28 and 30 are reengaged and the flap 18 thereby covers the wound.Alternatively, the flap 18 is again placed over the wound so that thecover is reengaged at both ends 14a and 14b.

The wound dressing of the present invention may be decorated withvarious designs and/or illustrations, particularly for younger children.One such example is shown in FIG. 4. The upper surface of the secondportion 12 of the sheet backing material 4 has a design in the form of awatch band while the upper surface of the flap 18 is decorated with awatch face.

The wound dressing of the present invention may be made in a variety ofshapes and sizes within the spirit and scope of the invention. Forexample, referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a large surgical bandageused for covering major surgical wounds such as encountered with chestsurgery. The wound dressing 40 has a flap 42 which is attached along oneend of the length of the wound dressing to facilitate moving the flapfrom the open to the closed position. The end 44 of the flap 42 isadapted to reversibly engage a corresponding end 46 to cover the woundwhen the flap 42 is pushed downwardly over the wound.

In another embodiment of the invention, the first portion of the backingsheet material comprises an opening in the backing sheet material 4. Theflap is, like the embodiments of the invention previously described,reversibly movable to an open from a closed position to expose and coverthe wound, respectively.

Referring specifically to FIG. 6, the wound dressing 2 has a firstportion 10 comprising an opening 50 directly over the wound W. The wounddressing includes a flap 18 like the previously described embodimentswhich is adapted to cover the wound. In this embodiment, the flap 18provides the sole protection for the wound.

Other modifications of the invention would be apparent to those ofordinary skill in the art. For example, the wound dressing may beprovided with a customary antibacterial agent by impregnating the samein the first portion 10 of the backing sheet material 4 and/or the gauze22 on the underside of the flap 18.

I claim:
 1. An external wound dressing comprising:(a) layer of backingsheet material having a first portion in the form of an opening forpositioning over the wound and a second portion, said first portionhaving a first end and a second end, and said second portion having afirst face and a second face; (b) an adhesive on said first face of saidsecond portion of said layer of backing sheet material, said adhesivebeing selected for ready adherence to the skin of a patient to therebyadhere said layer of backing sheet material to the skin of the patient;(c) a flap comprising a layer of backing material, said backing materiallayer having a first end and a second free end, wherein said second freeend is defined by an unencumbered edge of backing material free fromconnection to additional backing material, said first end of saidbacking material layer being coupled to said second portion of saidlayer of backing sheet material at said first end of said first portionof said layer of backing sheet material; and (d) a releasable attachmentelement on said second end of said backing material layer, saidattachment element permitting repeated releasing and reattaching of saidsecond end of said backing material layer directly to said second faceof said second portion of said layer of backing sheet material at saidsecond end of said first portion of said layer of backing sheet materialsuch that said flap is movable from a closed position covering the woundto an open position so that the wound can be selectively viewed by theuser.
 2. The external wound dressing of claim 1, wherein said first endof said backing material layer is permanently attached directly to saidlayer of backing sheet material such that release and reattachment isnot permitted and said second end is releasably attached directly saidlayer of backing sheet material to permit repeated opening and closingof said flap.
 3. The external wound dressing of claim 2, wherein saidfirst end of said backing material layer is attached to said layer ofbacking sheet material with an adhesive.
 4. The external wound dressingof claim 2, wherein said first end of said backing material layer isattached to said layer of backing sheet material by hot pressing.
 5. Theexternal wound dressing of claim 2, wherein said first end of saidbacking material layer is attached to said layer of backing sheetmaterial by stitching.
 6. The external wound dressing of claim 1,wherein said first end and said second end of said backing materiallayer are releasably attached directly to said layer of backing sheetmaterial to permit repeated attachment and removal of the entire flap toand from said layer of backing sheet material.
 7. The external wounddressing of claim 1, wherein said releasable attachment element on saidsecond end of said backing material layer is an adhesive.
 8. Theexternal wound dressing of claim 1, wherein said flap further includes agauze material adhered to said flap and facing the wound.
 9. Theexternal wound dressing of claim 8, further comprising an antibacterialagent impregnated in said gauze material of said flap.
 10. The externalwound dressing of claim 1, further comprising a tab at one end of saidflap for reversibly moving said flap from the open to the closedposition.
 11. The external wound dressing of claim 1, further comprisinga layer of protective sheet material covering said adhesive on saidlayer of backing sheet material, said layer being removable from saidadhesive to enable said wound dressing to be applied to the wound. 12.The external wound dressing of claim 1, wherein said releasableattachment element is a hook and loop fabric.
 13. The external wounddressing of claim 1, wherein said backing sheet material is a film. 14.The external wound dressing of claim 13, wherein said film is apolyurethane film.
 15. The external wound dressing of claim 1, whereinsaid layer of backing sheet material is formed from a two-waystretchable material.
 16. The external wound dressing of claim 15,wherein said layer of backing sheet material is formed from a non-toxic,porous material.
 17. The external wound dressing of claim 1, whereinsaid layer of backing sheet material is formed from a non-toxic, porousmaterial.
 18. The external wound dressing of claim 1, wherein said layerof backing sheet material is formed from a non-rigid, flexible fabric.19. The external wound dressing of claim 18, wherein said fabric isselected from the group consisting of nylon, Dacron, polyethylene,cotton and linen.
 20. The external wound dressing of claim 1, whereinsaid backing sheet material is opaque.
 21. The external wound dressingof claim 1, wherein said layer of backing sheet material and said flapare decorated with a design.
 22. The external wound dressing of claim 1,wherein said flap is formed from the same material as said layer ofbacking sheet material.
 23. The external wound dressing of claim 4,wherein said flap is formed from a material as said backing sheetmaterial.
 24. The external wound dressing of claim 1, wherein said flapis opaque.
 25. An external wound dressing for selectively covering anduncovering a wound, said wound dressing comprising:a layer of backingsheet material positioned on both sides of the wound and leaving anopening over the wound, said layer of backing sheet material having afirst face and a second face; an adhesive on said first face of saidlayer of backing sheet material, said adhesive being selected for readyadherence to the skin of a patient to thereby adhere said wound dressingto the skin of the patient; a flap formed from a layer of backingmaterial separate from said backing sheet material and having a firstend and a second end, said first end of said flap being coupled to saidfirst layer of backing sheet material on one side of the wound; and areleasable attachment element on said second end of said flap, saidattachment element permitting repeated releasing and reattaching of saidsecond end of said flap directly to said second face of said layer ofbacking sheet material on the other side of the wound such that saidflap is movable from a closed position covering the wound to an openposition uncovering the wound.
 26. The external wound dressing of claim25, further comprising a sheet of release paper covering said adhesiveon said layer of backing sheet material, said release paper beingremovable from said adhesive to enable said wound dressing to be appliedto the wound.
 27. The external wound dressing of claim 25, wherein saidbacking sheet material is a film.
 28. The external wound dressing ofclaim 25, wherein said backing sheet material is a two-way stretchablematerial.
 29. The external wound dressing of claim 28, wherein saidbacking sheet material is a non-toxic, porous material.
 30. The externalwound dressing of claim 25, wherein said backing sheet material is anon-rigid, flexible fabric.
 31. The external wound dressing of claim 25,wherein said flap is formed from the same material as said backing sheetmaterial.
 32. The external wound dressing of claim 25, wherein said flapis formed from a material different from said backing sheet material.33. The external wound dressing of claim 25, wherein said flap isopaque.